Goodbye Polly!

What a great send-off. The Protea boys gave Polly a great send-off, after he had announced his retirement from international cricket.
In both the last 2 ODIs against a young and talented Windies side, Polly was sent in up the order so he could hit the winning runs. Very special for one of the greatest servants to SA (and world) cricket ever.

Farewell, Shaun Pollock.

He leaves a giant gap, as he was one of the best bowlers the cricket world has ever seen.
Undoubtedly the best all rounder ever in ODI cricket and not too shabby in the test arena either.

Polly, you will be sorely missed.

Originally posted by Crowley
What a great send-off. The Protea boys gave Polly a great send-off, after he had announced his retirement from international cricket.
In both the last 2 ODIs against a young and talented Windies side, Polly was sent in up the order so he could hit the winning runs. Very special for one of the greatest servants to SA (and world) cricket ever.

Farewell, Sh ...[text shortened]... in ODI cricket and not too shabby in the test arena either.

Polly, you will be sorely missed.

Yeah it is with sadness to see Pollock retire,he was probably my favourite SA player to watch.A great bowler and above average batter.Had an enormous amount of respect from his fellow players.He has big shoes to fill but im sure there will be an up and coming youngster over there somewhere.

Well Crowley i cant agree that he was the best ODI allrounder but was certainly up there.His value to the team was a great asset.

Yes i will agree with you about him being one of the best bowlers of the modern era.Im sure Steyn will step up and fill his shoes in the bowling department,he is a talent.

Originally posted by boarman
Well Crowley i cant agree that he was the best ODI allrounder but was certainly up there.His value to the team was a great asset.

Obviously you don't boarman, you are pretty predictable in that respect.
Please enlighten us as to who, in your esteemed opinion, outshone Polly...?


RE: The Future
Steyn is a good prospect for the future and Morne Morkel as well. Also, we have a pretty decent all rounder in Johan Botha who is an OK spinner for the one day game, maybe Albie Morkel - the brother of Morne - he's a talented all rounder too, but the hole Polly leaves in the team is pretty big.
Hopefully the new, raw, young talent can get close to filling his enormous boots.

Originally posted by Crowley
Obviously you don't boarman, you are pretty predictable in that respect.
Please enlighten us as to who, in your esteemed opinion, outshone Polly...?


RE: The Future
Steyn is a good prospect for the future and Morne Morkel as well. Also, we have a pretty decent all rounder in Johan Botha who is an OK spinner for the one day game, maybe Albie Morkel - t ...[text shortened]... pretty big.
Hopefully the new, raw, young talent can get close to filling his enormous boots.

Well there are a few to come to mind straight away.

Sanath Jayasuriya
403 matches, 12207 runs, Av 32.64, HS 189 64-- 50's 25--100's
307 wickets Av 36.46 Catches 115

Andrew Symonds
181 matches, 4676 runs, Av 41.38, HS 156 , 26--50's,6--100's
124 wickets Av 38.23 Catches 74

Jacques Kallis
274 matches,9541 runs Av 45.22 HS 139, 65--50's,16--100's
239 wickets Av 31.53 Catches 101

And then there were the 2 Waugh brothers,Wasim Akram to name a few.

Originally posted by Crowley
Obviously you don't boarman, you are pretty predictable in that respect.
Please enlighten us as to who, in your esteemed opinion, outshone Polly...?


RE: The Future
Steyn is a good prospect for the future and Morne Morkel as well. Also, we have a pretty decent all rounder in Johan Botha who is an OK spinner for the one day game, maybe Albie Morkel - t ...[text shortened]... pretty big.
Hopefully the new, raw, young talent can get close to filling his enormous boots.

Well there are a few to come to mind straight away.

Sanath Jayasuriya
403 matches, 12207 runs, Av 32.64, HS 189 64-- 50's 25--100's
307 wickets Av 36.46 Catches 115

Andrew Symonds
181 matches, 4676 runs, Av 41.38, HS 156 , 26--50's,6--100's
124 wickets Av 38.23 Catches 74

Jacques Kallis
274 matches,9541 runs Av 45.22 HS 139, 65--50's,16--100's
239 wickets Av 31.53 Catches 101

And then there were the 2 Waugh brothers,Wasim Akram to name a few.

Originally posted by boarman
Well there are a few to come to mind straight away.

Sanath Jayasuriya
403 matches, 12207 runs, Av 32.64, HS 189 64-- 50's 25--100's
307 wickets Av 36.46 Catches 115

Andrew Symonds
181 matches, 4676 runs, Av 41.38, HS 156 , 26--50's,6--100's
124 wickets Av 38.23 Catches 74

Jacques Kallis
274 matches,9541 runs Av 45.22 HS 139, 65 ...[text shortened]... 31.53 Catches 101

And then there were the 2 Waugh brothers,Wasim Akram to name a few.

Polly was a much more consistent performer than every single player you mention, especially in the bowling department.
None of the players you mention, except Akram, gets anywhere close to Polly in the bowling department - remember, ODIs are about run economy, almost as much as wicket taking ability.

Naming Symonds in the same breath as Polly is a bloody abomination.


Here's a nice and easy way for you to compare players, based on all round ability:
http://www.lgiccrankings.com/odi/all-rounder/rankings.php

You can search for any player, get their highest all-rounder ranking and even see a graph of their careers.
Check it out, it's pretty enlightening...

Originally posted by boarman
Well there are a few to come to mind straight away.

Sanath Jayasuriya
403 matches, 12207 runs, Av 32.64, HS 189 64-- 50's 25--100's
307 wickets Av 36.46 Catches 115

Andrew Symonds
181 matches, 4676 runs, Av 41.38, HS 156 , 26--50's,6--100's
124 wickets Av 38.23 Catches 74

Jacques Kallis
274 matches,9541 runs Av 45.22 HS 139, 65 ...[text shortened]... 31.53 Catches 101

And then there were the 2 Waugh brothers,Wasim Akram to name a few.

Polly was a much more consistent performer than every single player you mention, especially in the bowling department.
None of the players you mention, except Akram, gets anywhere close to Polly in the bowling department - remember, ODIs are about run economy, almost as much as wicket taking ability.

Naming Symonds in the same breath as Polly is a bloody abomination.


Here's a nice and easy way for you to compare players, based on all round ability:
http://www.lgiccrankings.com/odi/all-rounder/rankings.php

You can search for any player, get their highest all-rounder ranking and even see a graph of their careers.
Check it out, it's pretty enlightening...

Pollock's clearly got a strong case for the best bowling allrounder. None of the others mentioned came close as a bowler, except for Wasim, who wasn't as good with the bat.

On the other hand, the others were better batsmen. So, as usual, it depends on what you value. Same with consistency vs. explosiveness vs. longevity. Pollock is incredibly consistent. Jaya could win a game for you, changed the face of one-day opening - and 12000 runs + 300 wickets is really quite remarkable.

(By the way, maybe add Afridi to that list? Just for sheer entertainment value)

(By the way, maybe add Afridi to that list? Just for sheer entertainment value)

And Chris Gayle.

Originally posted by mtthw
And Chris Gayle.

even Chris Cairns...?

Originally posted by Crowley
Polly was a much more consistent performer than every single player you mention, especially in the bowling department.

Just to clarify - Polly was supremely consistent in all facets of the game, especially bowling...

Originally posted by Crowley
Polly was a much more consistent performer than every single player you mention, especially in the bowling department.
None of the players you mention, except Akram, gets anywhere close to Polly in the bowling department - remember, ODIs are about run economy, almost as much as wicket taking ability.

Naming Symonds in the same breath as Polly is a blood ...[text shortened]... der ranking and even see a graph of their careers.
Check it out, it's pretty enlightening...

Pollock should of been more consistent in the bowling department,cause he was a bowler.His batting lets him down.

As has been said,there are batting allrounders,bowling allrounders and keeping allrounders.

Akram doesnt get close to Pollock in the bowling department,he is way past him.

Symonds will be right up there with the best allrounders once he has finished his career,he is an explosive batter with a strike rate of 93.45 runs per 100 balls faced,he can bowl off spin or medium ace,and a tremendous fielder.Its his batting and fielding that is way above Pollocks now,he wont get near Pollock as a bowler though.

Sachin Tendulkar can even make it as an allrounder
Matches 409,runs 16007,Av 44.22,HS 186#,50's--87,100's--41 SR85.43
Wickets 154,Av 43.99,SR 51.85 Catches 120

Originally posted by boarman
Akram doesnt get close to Pollock in the bowling department,he is way past him.

LOL, I think this is why you and I always cross swords - we are both prone to a bit of exaggeration 😉

Sure, Akram was a supreme bowler, but he was by no means any better than Polly.

From cricinfo:
Name Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR
Akram 351 18186 11812 502 5/15 5/15 23.52 3.89 36.2
Pollock 297 15712 9631 393 6/35 6/35 24.50 3.67 39.9

Akram took more wickets, but as always, that is a product of the 54 more innings he bowled in.
Pollock was a more economical bowler, but Akram had a slightly better strike rate.

Wasim: http://content-rsa.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43547.html
Polly: http://content-rsa.cricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/46774.html

Originally posted by Crowley
LOL, I think this is why you and I always cross swords - we are both prone to a bit of exaggeration 😉

Sure, Akram was a supreme bowler, but he was by no means any better than Polly.

From cricinfo:
Name Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR
Akram 351 18186 11812 502 5/15 5/15 23.52 3.89 36.2
Pollock 297 157 ...[text shortened]... /player/43547.html
Polly: http://content-rsa.cricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/46774.html

You must get out of your green and yellow bubble.
Akram has a better average and strike rate so if we back track 54 games he would still have more wickets than Pollock.

Like i have said before you are very patriotic ,and you should be ,as i am with my country,BUT you have got to start accepting that SA do not have the best cricket and rugby players.

Pollock's batting lets him down at being the best ODI all rounder .He was a great bowler but a lesser bowler than Akram and i think most people would agree with that.

Originally posted by boarman
You must get out of your green and yellow bubble.
Akram has a better average and strike rate so if we back track 54 games he would still have more wickets than Pollock.

Slightly better average, slightly worse economy. Be fair.